HB2739 HD1, Relating to Assisted Suicide, Establishes a regulated process under which an adult resident of the State with a medically confirmed terminal disease and less than six months to live may choose to obtain a prescription for medication to end the patient’s life. Imposes criminal sanctions for tampering with a patient’s request for a prescription or coercing a patient to request a prescription.

CWA of Hawaii Opposes HB2739 HD1.

Update: This bill has been placed on the calendar for a hearing tomorrow, March 16, at 8:30 a.m. by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection and Health (CPH). This bill has already been passed by the full House with 12 representatives voting against it. Gov. David Ige has said he is ready to sign this bill into law once it reaches his desk. Click here to read and track the bill.

Act TODAY:

Please contact the members of the CPH and encourage them to vote NO on HB2739 HD1. Be sure to let them know that you are a member of Concerned Women for America of Hawaii. Click here for their names and contact information.

Contact Gov. Ige and tell him of your disappointment in hearing that he plans to sign HB2739. Ask him to reconsider. Click here to contact him.

If time allows, thank the 12 representatives who voted against HB 2739: Henry Aquino (D-District 38), Romy Cachola (D-District 30), Isaach Choy (D-District 23), Ty Cullen (D-District 39), Sharon Har (D-District 42), Aaron Johanson (D-District 31), Sam Kong (D-District 33), Bob McDermott (R-District 40), Sean Quinlan (D-District 47), Andria Tupola (R-District 43) and Gene Ward (R-District 17). To send each one an email simply enter each one like this “rep (last name) @capitol.hawaii.gov. For example: [email protected]. Be sure to let them know that you are a member of Concerned Women for America of Hawaii. It is important that we support those who vote right.

Pray: Please pray that the plans of those pushing this bill with be thwarted.

Here are just some of the many concerns we have about physician-assisted suicide:

There is no guarantee in this bill, or anywhere else, that the adult resident as defined, would not give this same medicine to someone else, whether that other person was even aware that they had been given this medicine. In other words, there is no guarantee that the original adult who obtained the prescription, would not somehow decide to encourage or force someone else, even a child, to consume this medicine.

There is also a possibility that the adult resident might have been given the prescription due to a misjudgment or an error in the diagnosis of their disability or illness. There is much room for error in this situation, since any drug that the adult resident receives a prescription for could also be used for detrimental purposes.

Oregon, the first state to legalize assisted suicide, provides the most complete data available on the practice of assisted suicide in the United States. Oregon reports that the dominant reasons motivating patients to choose assisted suicide have nothing to do with pain management. The primary concerns center around having a disability: losing autonomy (92%), being less able to engage in activities making life enjoyable (90%) and losing dignity (79%). Fear of inadequate pain control is one of patients’ least cited reasons.

Modern medicine has made significant advances in pain control. Doctors now have a range of options to treat pain in terminally ill patients, including even palliative sedation as a last resort.

Though there are many sound academic reasons to oppose physician-assisted suicide, as believers, the most important reason is because God, and God alone, is the author of life. We cannot take on the role of God and take life based on our inconsistent judgment.

Update: This bill was passed in the Consumer Protection & Commerce Committee and is now headed to the Judiciary Committee. Click here to read and track the bill.

Act: Please encourage the members of the Judiciary Committee to vote NO on SB270 SD1. Be sure to let them know that you are a member of Concerned Women for America of Hawaii. Click here for their names and contact information. This bill is moving fast so please contact the committee members as soon as you are able.

Pray: Please pray that the plans of those pushing this bill with be thwarted.